Field of Endeavor
What is disclosed herein relates to navigating in an unknown environment.
Description of the Related Art
It is often necessary or useful to navigate in an unknown environment or surface so that all or substantially all of that unknown surface is traversed (covered) by a mobile device (e.g., when painting or cleaning). Certain systems and methods for establishing coverage paths over a surface in an unknown environment are known. However, such systems often behave in ways that appear random to users (which may, for example, make users doubt the efficacy of the cleaning performed by the mobile device), often fail to cover readily accessible portions of the surface promptly or efficiently, and often fail to cover accessible portions of the surface that are proximate to a first location on that surface before attempting to cover more remote portions. Some conventional systems also fail to thoroughly cover perimeters of the surface (including the perimeters of obstacles which are internal or partially internal to the surface).